As-Salam-o-Alaikum everyone.
About Myself:
I am originally from Pakistan. I am a PhD student at Sungkyunkwan university in South Korea for my Ph.D. at the moment.
(PS: I already did a lot of posts on the same topic and responded to questions about Muslim life in Korea from my original account u/Le-Mard-e-Ahan but it appears to have been shadowbanned. While I am working on getting my original account restored, I will be talking about Islam and Muslim life in Korea from this account.)
Why I am creating this Post:
I have lived in Korea for 8 years. I have worked with some Student and Islamic organizations that gave me some info about life as a Muslim in Korea. I wish to create a comprehensive post and share this info with you all.
Target Audience:
- Muslim who wishes to come to Korea (as a student, tourist, employee, business owner or an English Teacher)
- Native and Foreign Muslims living in Korea for long term
- Native Korean who wishes to learn about Islam
Muslim Population in Korea:
Korea's Muslim population is estimated to be around 200k. The majority of them are foreign Muslims who come to Korea for a few years (factory workers, students). Native Korean Muslims are estimated to be 50k to 80k.
Halal Restaurants:
Halal restaurants are sufficiently available but mostly in big cities. You can use an app called Mufko. The app has a map of Halal restaurants, a small forum for asking questions, a product scanner to tell you if a product has haram ingredients, prayer times, the location of Mosques, and a few other features.
Halal Food Ingredients:
You can buy halal food ingredients from various E-Commence websites. Here are a few of them:
Shejang
Al Bazaar Korea
MobPay App
There are more websites available for halal ingredients.
Mosques:
Korea has 20-25 major Mosques and more than 100 small, rented prayer rooms all over the country. You can find the nearest Mosque or prayer room through the Mufko app or by asking the nearest Muslim community. Since I am a student, I only know about the Muslim student communities in Korea and I will share the info about student communities in the "Communities" section.
Learning About Islam:
To my knowledge, there are 3 Islamic organizations in Korea.
- Korean Muslim Federation
- Salam Nuri
- Abdullah Al-Kori If you are a native Korean who wishes to learn more about Islam, you can contact these organizations or you can visit the nearest Mosque. The Mosque leaders are usually very receptive to Koreans who wish to learn more about Islam. Salam Nuri and Abdullah Al-Kori also offer basic Islamic classes in the Korean language for New Korean Muslims and Koreans who wish to learn more about Islam.
Muslim Student Communities:
KakaoTalk app is the Whatsapp of Korea. There are many Muslim communities in Korea. I will share some Facebook and Kakao Links of Muslim communities.
- Muslim Students Association Korea Facebook Group
- Muslim Students Association Korea Kakao Group
- Muslim Expats in South Korea Facebook Group
- A Kakao Group where Koreans can learn about Islam in both English and Korean
- There are many university-based Muslim student groups on Facebook and KakaoTalk.
Muslim English Teachers:
There are many Muslim English Teachers in South Korea. Korea accepts English teachers from these 7 countries: the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland. The salary is usually 2-3000 USD per month. For more info, visit this website:
https://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea
Scholarships for Students:
Muslim students who wish to come to Korea for MS and Ph.D. on scholarship, here is a video from Muslim Students Association Korea Youtube Channel. It is a recording of their scholarship information online event held in June 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5AXdMXbuvw
Edit Islamophobia: In my experience of 7 years, some Islamophobia does exist in Korea but in general, Korean people won't express to you in day-to-day life. For some Muslims (myself included), they might not face even a single Islamophobic interaction with the Koreans.
Male or female, if you are visibly Muslim (like Hijab or a full beard), Koreans do stare a lot but it is more curiosity than hate.
Some discrimination against foreigners exists in jobs where both a Korean and a foreigner can apply.
There are 2 cases of Islamophobia where a significant section of society collectively protested/showed Islamophobic tendencies.
- In mid-2019, a group of ~500 Yemeni refugees made it to Korea, fleeing the war in Yemen. The whole country was almost 50-50 split over letting them in and not. Many of the "not" people used Islamophobic arguements to make their case.
- In Daegu (one of the major cities in Korea and Korean Christianity's capital), some cultist Churches are organizing strong resistance to the construction of a Mosque. Many protesters show and utter Islamophobic actions words to express their opposition to the Mosque. (The protest is still going on). Edit Finished
Conclusion:
I have tried to share as much information as possible. If a fellow Muslim is in Korea and he/she thinks that some information should be added, please let me know in the comments. I hope and pray that this information will be of use to many of my fellow brothers and sisters.